Following up the thriller Solitude Creek with a contemporary romance, this is the extended review of the latest Goodreads First Reads giveaway novel, Nobody But You, which this pedometer geek reader had the pleasure of reading.
Nobody But You
by Jill Shalvis
Published by Grand Central Publishing, 2016
a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-4555-8680-6
Although Jill Shalvis has over twenty titles (including a cookbook) to her name, this is the first of hers this pedometer geek has read. It won’t be the last because there are others of hers that this reader owns, but I digress.
This romance novel, one of a series called Cedar Ridge, proves you can go home again, or at least find that person to make it home as it does for Sophia Marren and Jacob Kincaid.
Jacob, home on military leave after a deployment gone badly wrong, is not planning on staying in Cedar Ridge when he finally leaves the service. His issues with his family, particularly his identical twin Hudson, keep him purposely isolated. Having lost Brett, his brother-in-arms, and his brother-in arms Chris’s loss of limb in the same battle, he has become a half-empty glass kind of man…wanting to keep everyone away.
Enter green-eyed Sophia, a half-full glass kind of woman. Optimistic despite her temp jobs and reduced circumstances, she doesn’t want any man since her divorce a year earlier from Lucas. The pair meets when she illegally parks…actually moors…the boat at his dock. She is living on the boat post-divorce by the way. Taking him for a lake patrol officer, they butt heads for the first time. Actually, this happens more than once until each lets down their guard during a single malt whisky-fueled game of Three Lies and a Truth. From there, passionate chemistry overrides their senses. (My husband, like Jacob, groaned at the idea of a twenty-five-year old Glenlivet being wasted to rechristen the boat from The Lucas to The Little Lucas; actually, he tends toward the twelve-year-old Glenlivet, but I digress.)
Will Jacob come to grips with his family? Will Sophia find love despite her reservations? What will happen to the boat that is still desired by her ex? Will they both find a home in Cedar Ridge?
While part of a series, this romance can be read without reading the previous two. The story has some spicy, erotic scenes and some graphic language. There are tender, heartbreaking moments particularly in regards to the way wounded soldiers are treated. There are also some hilarious moments as well, keeping it light (the fact that Sophie has issues with seasickness to the point that she has to wear a Transderm-Scop patch to deal with her living arrangements made this reader love her. Suffering from the same affliction, I can certainly sympathesize with her problems with seasickness, but I digress once again.) The characters are refreshing and realistic, making this a series that this reader wants to explore further. Overall, it’s a lighthearted romance with elements of compassion, and of course, this novel wouldn’t be complete without a few What-the-tuck trends scattered throughout. Check them out as well as the other two novels in the Cedar Ridge Series: Second Chance Summer and My Kind of Wonderful (excerpts from both are included with the paperback.)